


The Road Not Taken

by IrreverentFangirl



Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Birds of Prey (Comic), Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Barbara Gordon is Oracle, Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - C-PTSD, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Dissociation Disorder, F/F, Gen, Mental Health Issues, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Stephanie Brown is Flamebird
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-20
Updated: 2018-11-20
Packaged: 2019-08-26 19:21:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16687468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IrreverentFangirl/pseuds/IrreverentFangirl
Summary: It's been less than twenty-four hours since Stephanie Brown had been fired from Robin.  Before she is able to make any plans to force her way back into the fold, she's approached by Nightwing who makes an offer that changes her life.





	The Road Not Taken

**Author's Note:**

> this is an au where dick offers to train steph to become his partner after batman fires her, pre-war games. it'll involve the birds of prey helping and steph finding her place in the birds/batfam/larger superhero community.

 

_Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,_

_And sorry I could not travel both_

_And be one traveler, long I stood_

_And looked down one as far as I could_

_To where it bent in the undergrowth;_

 

_Then took the other, as just as fair,_

_And having perhaps the better claim,_

_Because it was grassy and wanted wear;_

_Though as for that the passing there_

_Had worn them really about the same,_

 

_And both that morning equally lay_

_In leaves no step had trodden black._

_Oh, I kept the first for another day!_

_Yet knowing how way leads on to way,_

_I doubted if I should ever come back._

 

_I shall be telling this with a sigh_

_Somewhere ages and ages hence:_

_Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—_

_I took the one less traveled by,_

_And that has made all the difference._

 

** _The Road Not Taken_ _by Robert Frost_ **

* * *

“So I heard The Boss fired you,” a somewhat familiar voice said, the sound coming from the direction of her window. Steph screamed and flailed her way off her bed, landing on feet and instinctively falling into a fighting pose, until she realized that it was Nightwing crouching at her window ledge.

He laughed and put a hand in the air; the other one was casually holding onto the outside of her window frame. “Calm down, birdie,” he said. “It’s just me. A said that B fired you?”

Steph wasn’t positive what exact expression she was making, but she was sure it was miserable. “Shut up.” She crossed her arms over her chest and made to turn around before sighing. “And get in here before you fall like three stories.” She was exaggerating - she knew Nightwing was too graceful and coordinated to fall.

As she turned to make her way back to her bed, she heard Nightwing snort and then the soft sound of feet hitting the floor. “Seriously though, kid. Are you okay?”

Steph scoffed. “Why do you even _care,_ ’Wing? It’s not like we’re besties or anything - and, anyway, you’re getting Tim back as Robin. Don’t tell me you’re not thrilled by that.”

“Course I’m happy to be getting Timmy back, but I do care about you, birdie. You’re as much my Robin as Tim is,” Nightwing said as he reached out and grabbed her shoulder to try and get her to turn around and look at him. “And call me Dick.”

Steph closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Look, ’Wing, I appreciate you coming here and everything but I’m not exactly your problem anymore. Maybe I _was_ your Robin but the big man decided I’m not anymore. There’s nothing you can do about that. So I’d _really_ appreciate it if you’d leave me alone and let me mope.” Well, let her plan.

She hadn’t been lying, there was nothing Nightwing could do to make her be Robin again. But she _knew_ she could convince B to take it back. She _knew_ it.

“Birdie, I’m not gonna let you mope. I remember back when B fired me as Robin, that was one of the worst weeks - actually, _months_ \- of my entire life and I’m not leaving you alone to deal with the same thing.”

Steph spun around and stared at Dick with wide eyes. “B fired _you?”_

Dick made a face. “Yeah,” he said. “I got hurt on the field and B tried to bench me. He and I got into a huge, really bad fight over it and he ended up firing me and kicking me out. That’s how I became Nightwing.”

Steph sputtered. “But, he - you and he - but you guys work so good together!”

“Yeah, we do _now,”_ Dick said, shrugging. “B and I were in a bad place for a long time and it’s only since Tim forced his way into being Robin that we made up. But, kiddo, I get what you’re going through and I doubt you’re willing to just stop being a vigilante, so I came her to offer to take you under _my_ wing and train you to be my partner instead.”

Steph felt frozen. In the twenty-four hours since Bruce had fired her, she had made dozens of plans to force her way back into the fold and had dismissed all of them. But the fact that Dick (Dick Grayson, the _original_ Robin) was just offering to take her in? To become her mentor and eventual partner? She was...at a loss.

“Are - are you sure?” she asked, soft and hesitant.

Dick nodded, a single sharp jerk. “Absolutely. B’s too harsh on you, I’ve been saying this for months. You remind him too much of Little Wing and he doesn’t know how to deal with it and is taking it out on you - and that’s not okay. I’m stepping up and trying to help you out. Babs even said she’d help.”

Steph gasped and blinked away the tears that had begun to cling to her lashes. “Babs said she’d help? You, you guys are really going to do this for me?”

Dick grinned at her. “Yep! I talked to her about what happened and she agrees that B’s being an asshole and also that you have potential to be excellent, especially if you have someone who’s willing to help you out with it and who doesn’t have the same hang ups as B.”

Steph felt her world shatter. No one had ever been so eager to help her and she was still so hurt about everything with Bruce. All of a sudden, it was like she was separated from her body, and she knew but didn’t feel as a sob wrenched its way out way out of her body and as she collapsed to the floor, as Dick wrapped his arms around her, as she weeped into his shoulder, and as he comforted her.

It wasn’t until she managed to calm down, with his help, that she felt as if she were in her body again. “Th - thanks,” she said. “I’d really like that, Dick.”

He was still wrapped around her and she felt as he nodded against her thick curls. “Good, because I wasn’t kidding. I want to do this with you.”

**Author's Note:**

> feel free to come yell at me at [my tumblr](http://lichonmain.tumblr.com/) and my [comic book sideblog](http://daughterofthemyscira.tumblr.com/)! please leave a review if you liked it, i'm needy for validation.


End file.
